mistral
noun/mɪˈstɹɑːl/
Etymology Borrowed from Middle French mistral, from Occitan. Doublet of magistral.
1
A strong cold north-west wind in southern France and the Mediterranean.
- I saw him, the sea gray under the mistral and foam-flecked, watching the vanishing coast of France, which he was destined never to see again; and I thought there was something gallant in his bearing and dauntless in his soul.1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 48”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:
- The mistral had been blowing for three days now and the sea showed more white than blue1973, Patrick O'Brian, HMS Surprise: